OU football: Turnovers could crown a national champion
By Jake Trotter
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34
Published: December 8, 2008
NORMAN — Since failing to record a turnover in a 45-35 loss to Texas, Oklahoma has 23 takeaways over the last seven games, all convincing wins.
Since fumbling three times in a 31-30 loss to Ole Miss, Florida’s offense has averaged less than one turnover over the last nine games, all convincing wins. OU leads the nation in turnover margin; Florida is second. Third place isn’t close. For that reason, not surprisingly, the Sooners and Gators will meet a month from today in the BCS National Championship. And something will have to give. “It’s always a factor, and fortunately we don’t turn the ball over either,” said OU coach Bob Stoops while knocking on a wooden podium Sunday night. “In the end it is always an issue. It’s a factor in all games, not just the big games.” But this is a big game, and turnover differential figures to be as big a factor as anything else, as the last four national title games have proven. Not long after winning the SEC Championship, Florida quarterback Tim Tebow said he’d love to face a Big 12 defense, likely because of the yards and points the Big 12 defenses have surrendered this year. But what Tebow will discover while watching film is that while OU sometimes will allow points and yards in chunks, no defense is better right now at turning over the opposition. In fact, Stoops said this defense, the one allowing almost 25 points a game, is the best big-play defense he’s ever coached. “The whole year, even when we’ve given up some points, we’ve gotten a bunch of turnovers,” said Stoops, whose defense, by the way, held Texas Tech and Missouri, two of the nation’s top six scoring offenses, to season scoring lows. “We’ve had a lot of those turnovers returned back into (our opponent’s) territory. We have come up with a lot of big plays that way with forced turnovers.” On the other side of the ball, turnovers will be important, too. Florida is second in the nation in interceptions. But that lofty statistic was built up against a poor crop of SEC quarterbacks. If Sam Bradford is anything, he’s careful with the football. That’s why the bigger story line will be this: Can the Sooners continue their takeaway splurge against a QB who has thrown just two picks in the nation’s best defensive league? The answer could decide the national championship.
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OU by 10-14, both teams score 40+
If Florida doesn't turn the ball over 3 or 4 times and the OU defense plays like it did against
OSU or Mizzou, Texas, K-State, or Cinn.etc. you can, as Dandy Don says, "turn out the lights.
the party's over". The Sooners have had ONE great defensive game, Texas Tech. Back in the day,
they used to throw out 4 or 5 of those really good defensive games a year. Now you
are lucky to get ONE.
OU know it!